As Fried and Zem burst through the arch whump! the mist instantly clears.

They find themselves alone in a circular chamber, perhaps 60ft across. The walls appear to be a tangle of gnarled branches and vines stretching upward, as they were in the passage. In the center of the room is a somewhat raised rim around a circular pond. It's maybe 2ft high and 15ft across. The cool illumination seems to be coming from the water within; a dappled blue-green light plays faintly across the room to the sound of gently moving water. A few archway-opening can be seen to lead away from this place into darkness...

Freid also is looking around for the horseman, or where he might have gone...it is perplexing!

Freid shakes his head in response to Zem's whisper and whispers back, "Tis magic and we're enchanted Zem."

"No horseman, no Ledigar or Karl." Freid continues in a slightly louder voice. He looks back at the archway they came through. Does it show a bright mist or is it dark...or is it even there?

Freid walks over to the rim of the pool and looks within.

Freid will see if he or Zem have a torch and a way to light it. If so, he will circumnavigate the perimeter of the room examining each of the openings to see what is down each dark passage and for any inscriptions or writing on them.

There's no sign of the horseman, or of Karl or Leudigar. Thankfully, Fried sees that the passage they just entered from is still right behind him... patient and dark.

Zem realises they have no torches; so Fried approaches the pool... the quiet babble of water is strangely calming, and stranger yet 'tis that light should rise from it.

As Fried reaches the rim he sees the swirling water calm and gradually clear, until he sees that the pool wall seems only two or three feet deep. Strangely, despite the illumination of the water itself, he can't exactly make out the bottom. Not only that, as he watches, a number of strange objects "emerge" from below, suspended in some gradually turning current. Here, an impressively proportioned feather-quill drifts by, then a gold and silver smith's hammer... now a miniature chime bell. All these things seem perfectly formed and of a beautiful craftsmanship. Fried reckons he could almost reach one of them from the rim; certainly if he waded into the water he could grab a couple...

"It's a wonderment all right!" says Freid, "First a magical portal, then a ghostly knight astride his ghostly steed and now this pool. Real objects don't do that, so this, too, is magic of some sort. I think it's a lure to get us to reach into the pool or to descend into it."

"If we must fish in this pool, we need to do it from a distance. Do we have a pole or stick we can fish with?"asks Fried as he steps back shaking his head,"I fear that even using a pole of some sort will put us in danger."